


Black and Blue

by anotherdamnromantic



Series: Batman Bingo 2020 [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Bruises, Family Drama, Family Secrets, Gen, Injury, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 10:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22494379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherdamnromantic/pseuds/anotherdamnromantic
Summary: The first time Alice Sanders sees bruises on one of Bruce Wayne’s kids, she thinks nothing of it.Batman Bingo 2020 Prompt: Bruises
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Original Character(s), Tim Drake & Dick Grayson
Series: Batman Bingo 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618309
Comments: 10
Kudos: 178





	Black and Blue

The first time Alice Sanders sees bruises on one of Bruce Wayne’s kids, she thinks nothing of it. 

Dick Grayson is one of those kids that never stops moving, and he’s even worse than them because he can do triple flips and climb almost anywhere. She’s unlucky enough to be considered one of his friends because that means she’s either a scholarship kid or a social pariah, as he was known to surround himself with them.

It wasn’t for lack of trying; Dick was known for being charming and friendly to everyone he met. Unfortunately, that was a sign of weakness for the vultures that called themselves Gotham’s elite, and Dick Grayson was bullied just like all the other charity cases.

They never hit him, because that would be visible on his skin and they didn’t want to incur Bruce Wayne’s wrath. So imagine her surprise when she sees the bruises for the first time.

She’d noticed he’d been limping around most of the day, wincing with every slight shift of his body.

“Are you okay?” She’d asked during lunch, under their tree, because they shared two classes in the morning and she was beginning to get worried. He frowned.

“Uh, yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?”

Huffing, Alice said, “You’ve been limping around all day. What’s with it?” He shrugged and hopped up from his spot on the ground. It was a little too misty to sit on the grass today, but the two of them and all their friends were determined not to go into the cafeteria. She shuddered at even the thought of thinking of the memory. Best if she kept that to herself.

Dick leaped up and grabbed the thick tree branch, swinging his legs up and over, and hanging for a moment. His shirt slid down to his chest, and everything in Alice’s head stopped working.

His entire ribcage was a sick yellow, curling around his skin to end just after his sides. There were blue and black splotches all over, fading into purple before turning into the yellow that covered every inch of his torso.

Dick Grayson had bruises wrapping around his entire ribcage.

“What the actual…” Alice managed, surprised her voice still worked. Dick looked at her and frowned, before his eyes widened and he dropped from the tree.

“You can’t tell anybody,” Dick begged, His hand wrapping around her wrist. “Alice, you can’t tell anybody.”

Now that he was close enough, Alice could tell he was wearing makeup on his face. That was frightening, because it meant Dick was hiding more bruises under his clothes. 

“Alice!” He snapped his fingers before her.

“You have bruises…” Alice said, voice even. Inside she felt panic swallowing her throat.

“Yes,” Dick agreed. He’d seemed to have calmed down from the blind fear she’d seen in his eyes just moments before. She knew Dick wouldn’t have gotten those bruises from the bullies that plagued them, they preferred to hurt their victims with words rather than fists. Besides, they couldn’t even throw a punch if their lives depended on it.

So what if---and wasn’t that a sick thought, that Dick’s guardian was harming him, and that badly too. But then again, he’d been taken in so quickly, and Bruce Wayne wasn’t known for being the fatherly type.

“It was for theater class,” He said smoothly, shaking her from her thoughts. “I volunteered for it and they somehow forgot that the makeup they used was waterproof, so I can’t get it off until I get home.”

“Right,” Alice said, relieved. Of course, Bruce Wayne wouldn’t hurt a kid, he was known for his charity work, and he wouldn’t be violent enough that he could have left those bruises. After all, Dick’s wellbeing would be important to him; he was just as much his charity project as his ward. To hurt him so blatantly would be foolish.

The bell rang, and Dick took off without a word. It wasn’t unusual, Dick was always distracted too easily.

So was she, apparently, as only once she’d sat down for her next class did she remember Dick didn’t have a theater class.

~

Jason was everything Dick was not. Dick was kind, Jason was mean. Dick was chatty, Jason was antisocial. Dick was a happy-go-lucky guy, Jason was the type that brooded by the window. That’s how it was between the brothers, as everyone said. Dick was good, Jason was bad.

Alice realized they had it all wrong.

Jason was certainly less talkative than his brother, but while Dick filled the air with anything and everything, Jason only spent time having meaningful conversations with anyone he could. He’d ask, out of the blue, questions about the purpose of life or how incredibly fucked up it was that billionaires even existed.

So, yeah. Everyone’s perspective of Jason being the aloof bad boy was totally off. Because Jason seemed to  _ care,  _ strongly, about people. He made it his mission to know everyone personally, to really see who they were and how they operated. He had more empathy than anyone Alice had ever met.

It was with this revelation that Alice realized Dick was certainly not a people person. He always shifted uncomfortably around them, his face painted with a genuine-looking smile that was certainly perfected from his days at the circus. He always frowned once he turned to leave, and his eyes were sharp with annoyance in every conversation. Of course, he had friends---and seemed to like them well enough. But it was nothing compared to the way he was with Jason. It was like he’d flipped a switch, turned into himself, someone goofy and charming, yet calculating and full of pointy-edges.

Once Jason was in the school, it was like the two were inseparable. Jason seemed resigned to it, after a month or two, and Dick just went on being Dick.

Alice hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, not really, because she wasn’t a gossip and there were only so many people who would listen to her anyway. So when she was walking back from the bathroom, she was surprised to find that, once coming upon the two brothers, she didn’t turn around and walk away.

While Dick was known for cutting class (and getting away with it too, that charming bastard) Jason wasn’t, so perhaps that was what piqued her curiosity. Alice hid around the corner, peeking out from where she crouched.

“Let me see it,” Dick said, in an odd tone of voice. She’d never heard that emotion coloring his speech before, and it took her a good minute to recognize it.

“Hands off, Dickie,” Jason snapped, pushing his brother away. “I don’t need your charity.”

“Stop being a bitch about it, Jason,” Dick replies calmly, and Alice realizes it’s rage that she’s hearing in his voice. “Just because I’m not living in the manor anymore doesn’t mean we aren’t family.”

“We  _ aren’t  _ family,” Jason seethes. “Family doesn’t leave anyone behind.”

“I’m not leaving you behind, Little Wing,” Dick says, “I was kicked out, remember? Oh, wait, you weren’t there.” Kicked out?  _ Oh shit,  _ Alice thinks. He’d been joking about joining the circus earlier; was he actually thinking about doing it? He had a sizable trust fund, but that wasn’t accessible until he was eighteen. If he didn’t have anyone supporting him financially, was he living on the streets? Or had Bruce Wayne paid to keep him silent about the whole ordeal?

“Yeah, because I wasn’t living there, you jackass!” Jason raises his voice, then glances around to make sure no one’s heard. “You said you wouldn’t leave me.”

“I’m not going to,” Dick says. “I just… can’t stay in Gotham anymore. I promise I’ll visit, though.”

“I’m not even your real brother,” Jason sniffs. He’s not crying, but that’s as close as he’s gonna get to it.

“Yes, you are,” Dick said firmly. “And family comes first, above everything. Now show me.”

Jason sighed, then lifted his shirt. Alice’s eyes narrowed at the familiar display of yellow and blue that was painted across his ribcage. Dick whistled. “Shit, Jay. That’s pretty bad.”

“I’ve had worse,” Jason replies, sucking in a breath as Dick’s fingers trail over his skin.

“Did you break any ribs?” Now that was worrying. Did he expect his little brother to have broken his ribs?

“Naw,” Jason said. “Cracked basically all of ‘em, though.” Dick was quiet for a moment, before apparently deciding he’d seen enough and retracts his hand.

“Did they tell you how to treat it?” Dick asked.

“Just to ice’em and take it easy.”

“Sounds about right,” Dick says. He reaches into the pocket of his school blazer and tosses something that rattles at Jason. He catches it with a fumble. “Take two of those every six hours. Should help with the pain.”

“Bruce says pain builds character,” Jason says hesitantly. “It’s---”

“---Necessary to build a tolerance for pain. I know, I know,” Dick huffs. “However, I can promise you it’ll hurt just as much ten years down the line as it does now.”

There’s a silence, and then rattling from the pill bottle followed by an audible swallow.

“Good boy,” Dick says, and musses up Jason’s hair. The younger brother scowls and swats his hand away, but he’s smiling. “C’mon, let’s go to class.”

They walk away, their shoes squeaking against the linoleum floor. Alice lets loose a breath and slides down to the floor.  _ Bruce Wayne is abusing his kids. Shit. _

And what was she supposed to do? Pretend that it didn’t happen? But no one would believe her if she told them. After all, he was known for his charity work. And billionaires could pay their way out of prison, if he even got sent there.

No, she would have to help in another way. Pulling out her phone with shaking hands, she typed,  _ if you need a place to stay my parents have an apartment in Blüdhaven.  _ Alice sends it to Dick, hoping he doesn’t become suspicious.

~

Tim Drake is a surprise. She doesn’t even realize Bruce Wayne had another kid to beat up, after Dick moved out and Jason died. 

Dick had been… devastated, to say the least. His eyes are red from crying, and his face is dry and rough from scraping tears off his skin. He hasn’t changed his clothes in weeks, maybe even months.

Alice had been there the first time he’d spiraled, at sixteen when he was kicked out and finally stopped going to school. He’d spent two weeks sleeping in a homeless shelter before she’d suggested he lived in the apartment her parents owned, until he got on his feet, at least. 

But the drive to and from Blüdhaven was a long one, and this meant that Dick would wake up around four in the morning, drive the two hours without traffic, eat the free breakfast, and then attend school. After school, he would drive the two hours back, work a night shift at a shady diner, then complete his homework before falling asleep, exhausted. After about three hours the whole thing started again.

Every time he came to school, on the days he wasn’t missing, Dick would be dress coded for wearing sweats, a t-shirt, and a heavy waterproof jacket instead of the uniform. Jason would pack an extra lunch and sit quietly with his older brother as the two ate, Jason always eating half his portion and giving it to Dick.

One day she came across him sobbing in the hallway, two halves of a pencil sitting in his hands. “I broke my pencil,” He told her pitifully. “God, I can’t do this anymore.”

So yeah, Alice basically forced Dick to drop out of high school. He was smart, so she recommended he take the GED once he turned 17 and applied for college. After all, writing about how he had been kicked out and forced to flee to Blüdhaven of all places would make the best essay in the history of college essays.

Then Jason died. Dick was so busy working his ass off to be able to afford his own apartment, groceries, and clothes (“I don’t want anything from that man, Als,” He had told her), he didn’t even notice until about a month after it had happened.

Alice had swung by to check on him and found his groceries lying just behind the open front door. She’d assumed the worst, since this was Blüdhaven, and no one in their right mind would leave their door open. 

She rushed inside, grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter, and took in the scene. Everything was in the right place, and it was easy to tell since he lived in a studio that he’d finally been able to rent on his own. He was still wearing the same two outfits he’d brought with him, but seemed reluctant to wear them, as they had technically been bought for him by Bruce.

“Dick?” She called out hesitantly, and heard a muffled reply from the bathroom. She strode over and opened the door.

The first thing she noticed was that Dick was crouched in front of the toilet. The second thing was the smell. Putrid and nauseating. He’d been throwing up.

“I didn’t go to his funeral,” Dick slurred, and when she bent to brush his hair away Alice noticed he wasn’t drunk. Just---heartbroken. “I didn’t even---I didn’t---”

“Shh,” She’d said, and held him. “I know.”

Alice had decided to move in with him---she’d gotten her GED so she could go to Gotham U early, but instead of taking his first classes during the summer, she’d pushed them back to the fall semester. Just so Dick could get back up on his feet.

With two people, it was incredibly cramped living, but easy to afford now that they could both work during the day and still have free time. Things were going as well as expected; Dick didn’t cry as much as she’d expected him to, but he retreated into himself and refused to come out. Sometimes she could get him to speak a few words to her, but overall he seemed less than he used to be.

And again, Alice hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. For real this time. Because while she went back to grab her car keys from the kitchen counter, she stopped with the door just cracked open, because in the five minutes she’d been out, Dick had somehow found a guest.

“How did you find me?” Dick asks, and she hears him moving around the room. Peeking through, she finds that she can see the kitchen pretty well, and lucky for her, that’s where Dick and his mystery companion are residing.

“It wasn’t that hard,” The kid Dick’s with scoffs. “I just followed your girlfriend to your apartment.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Dick says, and the kid looks pointedly at something to her left, probably the full-sized mattress on the floor that the two of them share. “Yes, we share a bed. It’s cheaper this way, and it really isn’t that big a deal. Besides, she’s going to GU once summer’s over.”

“And what’ll you do then, huh?” He asks. “You can’t possibly maintain your current lifestyle on your own. Two of you can barely do it together.”

Dick rubs his face with a sigh. “I don’t know, Tim. I just---fuck. Sorry,” He adds. “Shouldn’t swear in front of kids.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Tim sniffs. He hesitates, and then says, “He got me, too.”

“What?”

“You know. You and---well, you-know-who, you both got intense bruises from the beating you received from---”

“Show me,” Dick demands. Tim does so without question, lifting his shirt and revealing his abused ribcage. Alice’s lips part, realizing that Bruce Wayne is abusing this Tim kid, too. “Shit, kid,” Dick says. “He got you good. When did this happen?”

“A few days ago,” Tim says, pulling his shirt down and hiding the ugly bruises. “I went out and followed B, but then, well.” He’s quiet for a moment, and then, “You need to go back to Bruce.”

“No,” Dick replies immediately.

“He’s getting out of control! After Jason died,” Dick flinches.  _ “After Jason died,  _ he didn’t have anyone to balance him out. He’s been nearly killing people, Dick.”

“I can’t go back there,” Dick says. “You know he didn’t even tell me Jason was dead? He kicked me out, didn’t even bother giving me any money or clothes or anything, and then he doesn’t even tell me my brother is dead!  _ He didn’t even invite me to the fucking funeral!” _

Dick’s heaving, and it’s the only sound between the two of them for a long moment. Tim finally says, “He needs you. And you need him.”

“I don’t need him---”

“You need him, because he’s your dad, and no matter how big of a fight the two of you have that will never change,” Tim says. Dick looks away and doesn’t say anything. “Fine! Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

“Don’t you dare,” Dick growls, “You don’t want this life. Look at me, I’m barely even surviving because I got too old for the job and he decided I was done.”

“You were my hero when I needed one,” Tim says. “Let me be yours. Just this once. Please.”

Dick’s quiet a moment. “You’re not my brother.”

“I know,” Tim says evenly.

“But you will be,” Dick replies. Tim smiles, before leaving through the open window. He watches the other boy go, for a moment, then sighs and says, “Come on out, Alice.”

She startles, but does as she’s told. Dick goes about making a sandwich even though it’s six in the morning.

“I’ll bet you have some questions,” He says, taking a bite and chewing it slowly. Once he swallows, he adds, “I can’t tell you anything.”   
  


“I already know,” Alice says, feeling like the words are being pulled out of her. “I know Bruce Wayne abused you and your brother, and now he’s abusing this Tim guy.” Dick shakes his head, and her vision goes white with rage. “He’s abusing kids, Dick!”   
  


“He may be a terrible father,” Dick says, “He never hurt any of us.”

“How else do you explain the bruises, huh?”

“He never hurt any of us on purpose,” Dick amends. “We’re kids adopted by a billionaire, people kidnapped me all the time. Bruce just wants us to be safe.”

“So he beats you up?” Alice asks, puzzled.

Dick laughs. “He teaches us how to defend ourselves.”

“Oh.” Alice feels bad for assuming so much, but is glad she kept it to herself for so long. If rumors got out… well, Dick would be furious.

“Now c’mon, you’re gonna be late for work and I still need another two hours of sleep,” Dick says, and Alice feels a little lighter. And if she sees more bruises, she never mentions it to Dick again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you have a moment, it means a lot :)


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